I cried when I realised...

A tad slow to start, but oh my wyrd, that ending. I'm in tears. I also loved that there was less swearing in this one. There's also a lot more sex, but they've been building up to it for the last four books, so not unexpected.. it's easily skipped if you're so inclined..

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Sweet torture!

Aaarrgh! The not wanting it to be over versus the wanting to know what happens.

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Amazing story teller

Sadly now I have to wait for the next one.

I could stop listening. Loved it, love the series. I think I might have to start at the beginning again.

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Still in love...

I have read these books so many times and the way this book ends and the details it spins still gives me goosebumps.

Just keeps getting better

Wowzers! I’m am utter speechless, I’m not sure what to say about this book. It’s so jammed packed. But the ending WTF!!! Seriously why you gonna do me like that? New relationship, stronger bonds, new enemies, old friends and allies and so much more. So many twists, turns and unexpected moments to be had in this books. I really hope you give it a chance as I did.

After defeating the previous King of Adarlan and helping Dorian claim the crown, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius along with Rowan Whitethorn, Aedion Ashryver and Lysandra have arrived in Terrasen to claim Aelin’s crown and armies to fight the war. Only, the lords that still exist have decided she is not fit for the throne, even though 1. They hadn’t meet her, 2. She has been fighting while they have been sitting on their butts. She has been forced out of her home once again, until she prove herself to these so called lords. But Aelin is going to gather an army and protect her home wether the lords want her to or not.

“To call in old debts and promises. To raise an army of assassins and thieves and exiles and commoners. To finish what was started long, long ago.”

While Aelin, Rowan, Aedion and Lysandra are in the North dealing with the pompous Lords of Terrasen. We have Elide Lorcan on the run trying to get to Terrasen away from Vernon and Perrington in Morath while being stalked by Lorcan. Than King Dorian Havilliard Is left in Adarlan trying to clean up after the Glass castle was destroyed, he is soon being attacked.

Aelin really surprised me lots in this book. When the lords rejected her as Queen, I expected the old sixteen year old Celaena to loose her temper and chuck a tantrum, but she didn’t, she strategically and calmly told them where they could shove it. That she would return with an army of her own. So that was a memorial scene. Then there were a few scenes in the book where she went back to her old ways where she was secretive, but at the end, she was the most selfless person in this entire book. I feel that her character has been the most misjudged and mistreated throughout this series. I was in tears for her in the last few chapters and I just couldn’t handle the crap she has had to endure and will have to endure, for the ones she loves and calls family. The steamy moments between Aelin and Rowan, wow, get a girl an extinguisher. A lot of people are complaining about this about this but they need to understand, that one Aelin is now older, she is with a full blood hot Fae male that have a soul deep connection, so it’s going to have to eventually go down that road. Plus it’s was tasteful and not over the top.

Rowan is still my favourite alpha male, he just owns my heart and soul. He is still MINE! He is just Fae-fection, the dedication, loyalty he has to Aelin and the rest of the court of friends is fabulous. The connection between Rowan and Aelin just keeps growing and growing and my theory of them being mates was true. (Sorry spoiler) I did predict this back in Heir of Shadows when we first meet Rowan. There is sex scenes in this book, so if there is any young readers please keep this in mind when reading this book. But my heart is shattered in pieces along side with Rowan after the battle at the end... oh Rowan come here, I’ll comfort you.

The more Lysandra makes appearances in the books the more I enjoy her character. She has become a great new addition to Aelin’s Court, she is all sorts of bada**, I love her transformations, her snarky remarks and her playfulness.

Manon Blackbeak is one cool chick. She is kicka**, strong, and willing to put her life on the line for the ones she cares for. She has been given a real crappy situation, where she needs to witness her second Asterin being killed because of something she had done.

Dorian is now the King of Adarlan, but without his kingdom he is on the run with Aelin and the rest to try and stop Erawan. But while he is still trying to heal after the collar he is being questioned as to why he is following Aelin’s commands and not setting them

Aedion, I still love him and his character, although there were a few times that I wanted to slap him over the back of his head. But he is just like Aelin so it is expected that there would be times they would clash. But when he confronted Gavriel, wow *cry, my heart broke you could hear the heartache in the words he said to him about his mother. The on the beach with Rowan after Maeve, *sob, the devastation in his words, when he was trying to comfort his brother.

Sex, unnecessary action and contrivance

Despite the fact that Sarah J Maas can write really, really well and I've largely enjoyed the novels in this series up to this point, this novel stopped being about the characters and become entirely plot driven. To create interest, the author paired up most of the main characters with each other in sexual relationships (worthy of any purple prose-filled romance), and threw us into repeated, mostly pointless battle scenes written to the same 'we're rocking this, oh no we can't win, oh wait we're saved' formula she seems to favour. Add brutal torture porn (really brutal), a protagonist who keeps both allies and readers in the dark, and a seriously contrived ending that only serves to add more books to the series, and you've got a novel that's really hard to stay interested in or want to go on with. If you get through it, it feels like your emotions have been beaten senseless and hung out to dry in the baking sun, mostly due to the author's overuse of her 'hurt the characters to create empathy' approach to writing. By the end I'd lost almost all interest in the characters (particularly the protagonist) and can't say I care much about what happens next in the story. Gone is the (mostly) clever plotting and character twists that marked the earlier books in the series, which now relies on action, sex and contrived plotting to keep the story moving. At least the narrator for the audio book version has improved her performance from the beginning of the series, going from what sounded like constantly angry and spiteful to merely disdainful and even mellow some of the time.

Narrator is *A*M*A*Z*I*N*G*

I adored reading this book, but holy fucking damn, the narrator had me on edge at each chapter. I haven't slept and had to finish this book. Incredible.

Spoiler..

In chapter 54 Aelin refers to Rowen as her mate before it was revealed. A slight slip up. Otherwise a good book. I didn't like her character in the first book, but am glad I continued with the series.

Best One Yet!!!

empire of storms was truly emional and was the best book so far it brought me to tears when everything unfolded and I can't wait to get the next book

Holy Gods

Overall an amazing and enjoyable story.

HOWEVER I must say that the last part of the story made me fast forward quite a lot at how much one thing is being repeated by multiple characters, as well as how long it dragged on for.

I loved it regardless and can't wait for it to finally come to an end with KOA.